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Exclamations erupted from the audience as gasps and murmurs spread through the crowd.
The merman's iron-gray skin glistened under the dim light, his long, disheveled dark-green hair clinging to his shoulders.
The lake was a gruesome sight. Broken bodies floated on the surface, the remains of dozens of merfolk who had met a brutal end.
Their blood stained the water, turning it into a nightmarish scarlet expanse.
"Everyone, back to the castle!" Dumbledore's voice, amplified by a Sonorus charm, boomed across the grounds.
The previously panicked students found solace in his command, and the crowd hurried toward Hogwarts, seeking refuge within its walls.
"Dumbledore! Harry's still in the lake!" Ethan shouted, his voice urgent.
"What did you say?!"
Two voices spoke at once—Dumbledore's sharp inquiry and another, more frantic exclamation from Sirius Black.
Both men turned to stare at the bloodied water, their faces tense.
Sirius paled. He hadn't expected Neville to choose Harry.
"I'm going in!" Sirius yelled, already moving toward the lake's edge.
"Wait, Black!" Ethan caught Sirius by the shoulder, halting him.
"What are you doing?! I have to save Harry!" Sirius struggled against Ethan's grip, his desperation evident.
"Calm down, Black! We don't know what's happening down there!" Ethan said firmly.
"But Harry's in danger!" Sirius shot back, his voice raw with panic.
"I have a way," Ethan said, pulling out a conch he hadn't used in a long time.
He brought it to his lips and blew, hoping to summon Elaine.
Silence.
No creatures emerged from the lake.
Ethan's expression darkened. Something was terribly wrong beneath the surface.
"I'm going in," he said.
"I'm coming with you!" Sirius declared without hesitation.
Ethan met Sirius's determined gaze and nodded. He retrieved a small vial and handed it to him.
"Drink this—it's a killer whale potion. It'll help you breathe and move underwater."
Sirius took it without question, tilting his head back and swallowing the potion in one gulp.
Ethan, already protected by the Sword of the Lady of the Lake, dove in first.
Sirius followed a second later, and the two plunged into the dark depths.
The water, tainted by the massacre, was a murky red. The scent of blood clung to Ethan's senses, thick and suffocating.
They swam deeper.
Tangled black weeds swayed eerily, concealing the lakebed beneath their shifting forms. Smooth, gleaming pebbles dotted the sands below.
The deeper they went, the worse it became. More and more merfolk corpses floated lifelessly around them.
A haunting silence hung over the lake. No fish, no movement—nothing but death.
Then Ethan saw it.
The giant squid.
It lay motionless on the lakebed, its massive form eerily still.
For years, it had ruled the Black Lake, a silent guardian of the waters. Now, it resembled a ghostly shipwreck, its long tentacles sprawled lifelessly across the sand.
A deep, gaping wound cut across its body.
Ethan's stomach twisted.
Whatever did this… was still down here.
And Harry was somewhere in the darkness.
They swam for another twenty minutes, their bodies cutting through the dark, heavy waters.
The lakebed beneath them was now a vast expanse of black silt, disturbed by their movements, sending swirling eddies of murky water in all directions.
Gurgle.
Finally, they arrived at their destination—Fishman Village.
A massive rock stood in the blood-tainted water, its surface carved with images of mermen wielding spears, locked in battle with what appeared to be a giant squid.
The scene felt eerily prophetic.
The village itself was a massacre.
Dead merfolk lay scattered across the ground in gruesome heaps, their bodies covered in gaping wounds of varying sizes.
Blood drifted in the water like dark ribbons, staining the village in an ominous red haze.
Rough stone dwellings, their walls thick with algae, stood in eerie silence.
Dark windows gaped like hollow eyes, abandoned and lifeless.
Ethan and Sirius swam forward, scanning their surroundings.
The deeper they went, the denser the village became—more stone huts, some with small, makeshift gardens tangled in underwater weeds.
At last, they reached the village square.
In the center stood a crude stone statue of a giant mermaid, its body hewn from rough boulders. Four thick ropes, now frayed and broken, dangled from the mermaid's tail.
Empty.
Nothing.
Harry was long gone.
Sirius's anxiety spiked. He turned to Ethan, his mouth moving rapidly, but all Ethan saw were frantic bubbles escaping his lips.
Before Ethan could respond, a faint, desperate cry reached his ears—muffled, yet unmistakable.
A call for help.
Without hesitation, Ethan darted toward the source of the voice, weaving through the ruins of the village.
Inside one of the stone dwellings, he found her.
Elaine.
She was in terrible shape—her body marred by countless wounds.
But the worst of them all was a spear that had impaled her shoulder, pinning her to the wall like a trapped insect.
"Ethan... help me..." Elaine's voice was barely a whisper, weak and trembling.
"I'm here!"
Ethan swam to her side in an instant. Sirius arrived moments later, his eyes flicking to Ethan, then to Elaine.
He placed a firm hand on Ethan's shoulder, silently urging him to ask about Harry's whereabouts.
But Ethan shook his head.
Now wasn't the time.
He quickly examined Elaine's injuries. Despite the deep gashes and bruises, the spear wound was the only life-threatening one.
"Hold on, Elaine," Ethan murmured.
Drawing the Sword of the Lady of the Lake, he sliced through the spear as easily as if it were paper, freeing Elaine from the wall.
"I'm going to pull it out. This will hurt," he warned.
Elaine, her face pale and drenched in pain, nodded weakly.
"One... two... three!"
With a sharp tug, Ethan yanked the spear from her shoulder.
Elaine let out a strangled cry, her body convulsing in agony as fresh blood gushed from the wound.
Ethan didn't waste a second. He pressed the Sword of the Lady of the Lake into her trembling hands.
At once, the sword's magic surged through her, golden light pulsing against the dark water. The bleeding stopped immediately. Before their eyes, the gaping wound in Elaine's shoulder sealed itself, the flesh knitting back together at an impossible speed.
Ethan could barely hold his breath any longer.
Then, at last, Elaine released the sword and handed it back to him. With a sharp inhale, Ethan finally allowed himself to breathe normally.
"Thank you, Ethan..."
Elaine's voice was still weak, but there was gratitude in her eyes.
"It was just… they…"
"Elaine, we don't have time," Ethan cut in.
"There was a boy here—a human boy. Glasses, a lightning scar. Do you know where he went?"
Elaine's face darkened with fear.
"We were waiting for the Triwizard Tournament champions…" she murmured, her voice unsteady.
"Then… they came."
"Who?" Ethan pressed.
"A group of dark wizards," Elaine whispered.
"They appeared in the village… and started slaughtering us."
Her hands trembled, the horror still fresh in her mind.
Ethan's stomach dropped.
Harry was in the hands of dark wizards.